Merchandising, or point-of-sale in store displays are commonly used to attract customers within a store to a specific product or location in the store in order to entice the customer to purchase a given product or service. Such promotional means typically may take the form of graphic displays, such as banners, headpieces, and other printed materials suspended adjacent, or attached to the product display units. Often these graphic displays cannot be readily assembled in the store by store personnel, or are self-standing units which can interfere both with customer flow or with the display of the products themselves. Typically, these known promotional displays are made for a single graphic item only, and must be discarded or removed when the new material or promotional item is advertised.
A need has thus arisen for a portable and inexpensive system for providing a convenient and prominent device for displaying in-store promotional information. The prior art, as reflected in a number of patents, offers some convenient apparatus for identifying and/or promoting products in a merchandising environment. The following are several exemplary prior art systems developed for product promotion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,183, to Greenberger, discloses an integral clip assembly for holding a graphic display that would be projected laterally from a store shelf into the aisle for easy viewing by shoppers frequenting the store. The clip assembly comprises a generally J-shaped body adapted for receiving a sign or marker, and opposing flanges for securing the clip to a shelf molding, which itself includes an upper and lower flange. The assembly is substantially resilient so that it may easily be snapped within the shelf molding. A clip portion, formed by the loop of the J-shaped body, is also resilient to provide a firm grip upon a sign or marker positioned therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,928, to Soporowski, discloses a sign holder which is slidably mounted on a retail store shelf, or other supports having top and bottom channels, in which a horizontal graphic display may be received. A preferred embodiment thereof includes the structure needed to slidably mount the sign holder within spaced, open longitudinal cylindrical recesses with parallel walls extending along the opening of the recess, and extending necks with longitudinal cylindrical projections at the end. The projections are receivable in the recesses with the parallel walls being the necks so that there is little pivoting between the sign and its support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,768, to Goldstein, discloses a self mounting, advertising device for retail sales promotion and advertising. The device includes a placard to be suspended from a shelf, having an elongate card which is folded to form a front panel and a side panel. The side panel is positioned substantially at right angles to the front panel and its upper edge abuts against the shelf when suspended from the front edge thereof by a suspender strap. The side panel supports the front panel at a predetermined angle relative to the vertical. The side panel may bear advertising indicia thereon which is visible when viewed from the side, and may be supported in its angular displacement from the front panel by a return panel which traverses the distance between the distal end of the side panel and the reverse side of the card.
The present invention provides an improvement to the in-store display systems of the prior art by the provision of a snap engagable display panel having a perpendicular extension therefrom that allows for the angular viewing thereof that can attract and guide potential customers from a distance down an aisle, for example, to the displayed products or merchandise.